Tuesday, October 28, 2008

That's right, be jealous. Here is what I was blessed with today from the garden, a handful of SUMMER tomatoes. These aren't winter varieties folks. Say what you will about global warming my plants are still putting out blossoms at the end of October. The yellow pear tomato is a trooper! It was the first to produce this year and has just recently kicked the bucket...or pot, as the case may be. These are the last of the yellow pears but the jellybeans and the cherries are still going strong. Hooray California. They were promptly eaten in a salad. Delicious.

Our friends Richard and Ingrid hosted a pumpkin carving party. It was Jonas's first experience with pumpkin carving and he was less than thrilled. Too close to bedtime I guess :( But the rest of us had a blast, carving, eating, and gabbing away, or clucking away according to the husbands.

Friday, October 24, 2008

I am very passionate about gardening, and really any self-sufficient lifestyle practice. (I draw the line at a poop house though.) This year however, the pestilences have been knocking me out. I admit I have a severe fear of certain bugs and spiders. So when the only remedy for a japanese beetle takeover is to pluck them off plants in the early morning I either talk my husband into it, or cower on the patio with an empty bucket. They got at least half of the tomato harvest this year, the greedy suckers. My Grandmother, back when she gardened, used to keep a white netting over her strawberries to keep the birds off. Then one day after reading some bible verse she walked outside and removed the nets. She told her children, "We must share our blessings from God."

I share my "bounty" only because of my cowardice. A raccoon gang has been pilfering the winter tomatoes, I watch them from the house, remembering the line, "very much like the opossum in temperment." I leave them be. So it would seem the only thing keeping me from more god-like gardening would be that tricky change of heart. They're eating the goods any way maybe I should just surrender and say, "Yes, eat up little creatures, there is plenty to go around." But no, I worked hard for that food. I am not so close to approaching Zion.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Jonas had his first trip to the pumpkin patch yesterday...well second if you count the trip he made as a fetus. He was far more interested in getting the hay into his mouth than looking at pumpkins. He really didn't like the emus they had in the petting zoo, neither did Grandma Candi. I must admit their look is unsettling. Toward the end of the trip Jonas finally took a shine to his pumpkin and carried it around, it was a very small pumpkin. I did the best I could to keep it out of his mouth. We can't wait to carve our pumpkins at the Smith's house this monday. Woo Hoo! I can't believe fall is already upon us.